Pedrosa Takes Second Place For Honda at Jerez

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) dominated much of the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, eventually finishing a close second to score his first podium result of the 2010 MotoGP World Championship.

Dani Pedrosa

Andrea Dovizioso

The Spaniard brought the 122,000 fans to their feet when he grabbed the holeshot into turn one and then set about establishing a convincing lead over reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). After 20 laps Pedrosa had stretched his lead to 1.9 seconds, but the man on the move was fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), who passed Rossi with five laps remaining and then closed the gap on Pedrosa to line up his attack during the final few laps. On the penultimate lap the pair were inches apart at the Dry Sack hairpin and then they tangled at the final hairpin. Throughout all this Pedrosa managed to stay ahead, but he finally lost the lead as the pair dived into Dry Sack for the final time. Pedrosa crossed the line second, just 0.543 seconds down on Lorenzo and 0.347 seconds ahead of Rossi.

Today’s result continues Pedrosa’s impressive run at Jerez where he has finished inside the top two in each of his five MotoGP rides at the track. Winner here in 2008, the former 125 and 250 World Champion was runner-up in 2006, 2007, 2009 and again.

Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V), who started his 2010 campaign so brilliantly in Qatar with a rousing ride to third place, had a tougher race at Jerez this afternoon, finishing sixth. Dovizioso made a good start and got past several riders in the first lap, slotting into sixth on lap two, where he stayed for the rest of the race, not quite able to catch the man just ahead of him, Casey Stoner (Ducati)

Both Pedrosa and Dovizioso stay here tomorrow to undertake a day’s testing in preparation for the upcoming races.

Melandri, de Puniet, Simoncelli and the others swapped positions throughout the race, the more experienced Melandri finally getting the better of them to finish eighth, just a fraction of a second behind Kallio. It was a great result for the Italian who had struggled at the season-opening Qatar GP three weeks ago, but the former 250 World Champion still wants much, much more.

De Puniet had been hoping for better than ninth after another impressive qualifying display had put him sixth on the grid. However, the Frenchman got a bad start and then found it impossible to reproduce his Saturday pace.

Simoncelli certainly enjoyed his second MotoGP race, putting up an excellent fight with his rivals. In the final laps, however, he started sliding around and was unable to maintain his pace, finishing 11th, between Bautista and Edwards.

Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) had a lonely race, after he had run off the track on the very first lap. The reigning 250 World Champion made a mistake braking into turn eight and had to take drastic action to avoid colliding with a rival. He rejoined the circuit in last place and continued circulating to pick up two points for 14th place; not what the Japanese ace had been hoping for after qualifying in a promising 12th place.

The second race of the new Moto2 World Championship was an edge-of-the-seat thriller, with a group of eight riders battling for the win, the lead changing several times on most laps. The race was restarted after a second lap pile-up which claimed seven riders after Qatar winner Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter) fell at the Dry Sack hairpin, dropping oil on the circuit. All the fallers were able to take the restart.

Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) won the shortened, 17 lap restart after a breathtaking race-long battle with the leading group. At the flag there were just 2.5 seconds covering the first eight men home, with less than half a second covering the podium finishers.

During the final laps the pace heated up considerably, Elias fighting back and forth with runner-up Tomizawa and third-place finisher Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki). Luthi had led the previous two laps but Elias grabbed the lead as the pack charged into Turn One for the final time, only to run wide at the Dry Sack hairpin, almost gifting the lead to Tomizawa. Elias held on for the win, despite still suffering from the nasty left-hand injury he sustained at Jerez during preseason tests.

Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3 Racing, Tech 3) finished three tenths behind Luthi, with Simone Corsi (Jar Moto2, Motobi), Sergio Gadea (Pons Racing, Kalex), Kenny Noyes (Jack & Jones by A.Banderas, PromoHarris) and Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, RSV) following right behind. Of this group, GP rookie Noyes had played the biggest role in the early race contest, muscling his way into the lead on several occasions, only to slip back a few places as the race moved towards its climax.

In 125 GP, the first race of the day, 17-year-old Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125) recorded a very respectable 12th place, finishing the race less than five seconds outside of the top ten. The race was won by Pol Espargaro (Derbi) who topped an all-Spanish podium along with Nicolas Terol (Aprilia) and Esteve Rabat (Aprilia).

MotoGP now travels north west from Jerez to reconvene in the Sarthe area of France at Le Mans, for the French GP on May 21/22/23.

Marco Melandri

Randy de Puniet

MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V), second-place finisher at 45m 18.081s, said: “Well, this result is a little bit surprising for me and, even though I came so close to winning, I’m pleased to be on the podium and so close to the top step. I didn’t think I was going to be able to lead the race for this long and I was nervous at the start because I knew that to maintain a front-running rhythm was going to be very difficult for us. So I was pleased to be out in front of the race, but then I saw on the pit board that Lorenzo was closing at a pace that was half a second faster than me and Rossi and I thought, “Mmm, maybe this is going to be difficult!”. I tried to hold him off for as long as possible but in the end I couldn’t. Second place after leading for all but half a lap is disappointing obviously, but after the first race at Qatar this is a good result for us. I’d like to thank all the fans who came here and supported us today, and all the people around me in the Repsol Honda Team. We must keep working really hard – starting with the test tomorrow – so that we can improve for Le Mans.”

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V), sixth-place finisher at 45m 40.682s said: “I made a quick start and my first few laps were good and I was able to get past a few riders and climb to sixth place. In the central part of the race we had a good rhythm and my pace compared to the front riders wasn’t too bad. I maintained this until the final five laps when it was clear that I couldn’t catch the riders ahead and so I eased off. The grip levels here were quite low and it was important to get the electronic controls working well, but in this area we didn’t get things right today. So, even though I’m pleased my rhythm has improved from last year here, I am disappointed with the race result. We will keep on working and I’m very happy that tomorrow we have the opportunity to test the new material – the new chassis and the new engine – so we have the chance to continue the progress we’ve been making through winter testing and at the first race. Dani was very fast today and I’d like to give my compliments to him because he did a very good race and has shown what the machine can be capable of. I’m confident that we can be competitive at the next race at Le Mans.”

Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) , eighth-place finisher at 45m 52.225s, said: “That was definitely better than Qatar, but I’m not very happy with the first part of the race. It was hard to ride. I made a good start but I didn’t feel comfortable riding, when I hit the brakes the bike was very unstable. It got better as the race went on, but my engine mapping lost me some power. In any case, I had a good fight with Kallio and tried to get past him for seventh at the end, but he had more acceleration and I couldn’t make it up on the brakes. I feel that we have made a step forward, and we will continue working in order to get in even better shape.”

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) , ninth-place finisher at 45m 53.698s, said: “Doubtless we are a bit disappointed because we aimed to get a different result today. After a very positive qualification I got a bad start from the second row and ended the first lap in 12th position. From there it was a very hard race for me! The race was very close with many riders doing almost the same lap time and after a few laps I started to have some issues with the front tyre. In those conditions I could not keep the pace I had yesterday because I lost the front several times. However, I am still holding sixth in the points standings and our bike is working well enough, so we must continue working in this direction.”

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), 11th-place finisher at 45m 54.693s, said: “Let’s say that this seventh place leaves a completely different taste in the mouth to Qatar. I had a good start and moved up places, fighting with Melandri, Kallio, Edwards, Spies, De Puniet and Bautista. Unfortunately in the end I was only able to finish ahead of one of those riders. But it was a good race and I was still very fast at the end; I even felt that at seven laps from the flag I was a bit stronger than the rest of the group. But when my bike started to slide the other riders upped their pace. It’s another eleventh place, but a more positive one.”

Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) , 14th-place finisher at 46m 19.590s, said: “I didn’t make a good start and then I made a mistake. After braking too hard I had to avoid crashing into another rider and had to go wide. After that I lost contact with the other riders. This was not an easy race for me. I am so sorry for my team to have destroyed all their work of the weekend with this mistake. I really hope the next race will be better.”

Moto2:Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki), winner at 29m 58.726s, said: “I am not disappointed not to be in MotoGP. I took the decision to move down to Moto2. Maybe it was a risk, but so far everything is good. We have come through a difficult few weeks, since I got hurt here in preseason testing. I am still not 100 per cent, my left hand is still a problem. I got fourth in Qatar and I won today but I suffered a lot during the race because my physical condition isn’t 100 per cent. The setup of my machine is also not perfect, so we must work on that. I fought a lot in the race, it was very tough, but in the end I could win. I am very, very happy and I cannot wait for Le Mans because my physical condition will be much better there, so I can be more relaxed.”

Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter), second-place finisher at 29m 58.916s, said: “I am so, so sorry for the crash because many other riders crashed on the oil that came from my machine when I crashed. I made a mistake when Corsi tried to pass me. We both tried to release our brakes to make more room, but my bike shook, he closed my line and I couldn’t avoid him. It was my mistake. Before the restart my mechanics had to work very, very hard in the pit box. They repair my machine 100 per cent, so I could go again. I trust their work, so I could give full gas. I tried but Toni is so fast. We had a good three days here – good Friday, good Saturday, good Sunday – so now we hope we can find a good solution when we get to Le Mans.

Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki), third-place finisher at 29m 58.987s, said: “After the first start there were some very strong overtakes and I was thinking this race was going to be crazy, because riders were hitting each other very hard in the first laps. The restart seemed to be better. I got a better start and I had a better first lap, so I could ride with the lead group. My bike felt really good, so then I was able to take the lead. I thought maybe I could go faster, but the others held my slipstream and I couldn’t get away. Anyway, a podium finish is great, especially for our team which is completely new. My thanks to them all – they are a great team.”

Honda125 :Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team), 12th place finisher at 42m 40.868s, said: “Before the race it didn’t look like I would get some points here. The whole weekend was going wrong somehow. But then I had a quite good start and was able to regain some positions. In front of me there were some riders that kept me back a little and I lost the connection to the group, therefore I am quite happy with 12th place and I hope the trend keeps going up.”